The first telephone "book" was published by the New Haven District Telephone Company, in Connecticut, in 1878. It was one page long and contained fifty names - and because, in those days, the operator would connect callers, it was a telephone directory that didn't actually list any telephone numbers.
It is estimated the 85% of Americans now own a cell phone.
Before push-button telephones, people used dial telephones. Before dial telephones were invented, operators connected every call.
And now those telephone books are often precious resources for family historians.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much information you can find in some of the older ones. For instance, the person's occupation.
I love to read little historical tidbits like this.
Evelyn in Montreal
Thank you for the feedback Evelyn. I appreciate it - I wonder if there are telephone postcards.
ReplyDeleteI love telephone history. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Geneabloggers family. Hope you find the association fruitful; I sure do. I'm fairly new, as well, and have found it most stimulating, especially the Daily Themes.
Keeping telling your ancestor stories!
Dr. Bill ;-)
http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
Thank you Dr. Bill ;)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog also.
I have another blog also:
http://acadian-ancestral-home.blogspot.com/
So I've been with Geneablogger before I launched Lucie's Legacy on December 1st.
Thank you for your interest.
thank you Lucie for following my weblog Written In Stone--
ReplyDeleteI love the mental image of an operator physically connecting calls
Thank you for your visit Jeanine. It is great appreciated.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever have the opportunity to see a really old movie you will see that operators were highlighted a whole lot. Businesses used to have live operators put through all of the calls that came in and went out.